CAMDEN FRY - 8 yo (2009) - North Kingstown RI

The Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth & Families had no
prior contact with the North Kingstown couple whose 8-year-old daughter
was found strangled in their home this week.

Kimberly Fry, the mother of the child, is now charged with the murder of her daughter, Camden. Fry is held without bail and on suicide watch following a District Court arraignment Thursday afternoon.

DCYF Deputy Director Jorge Garcia said Friday morning that no other children lived in the family home or in Rhode Island.

"It is not believed that the family had any other children," Garcia said.

He believes both the mother and her husband, Timothy Fry, were the biological parents of the girl.

The North Kingstown Police contacted DCYF Thursday to alert the
agency, which is responsible for child welfare, that a child had been
strangled and the police were poised to charge her mother with murder,
Garcia said.

All suspicious deaths of children are referred to the DCYF, Garcia
said. As this is a criminal case and the police are taking the lead,
the DCYF has a secondary role in the investigation, he said.

The DCYF gets involved in such cases because the state agency
maintains the child abuse and neglect registry for the state of Rhode
Island. Anyone seeking to work with children would need DCYF clearance,
and the state agency would check that list when potential employers
seek background information on job applicants, Garcia said.

A former Dover woman is accused of killing her 8-year-old daughter in
South Kingstown, R.I. — allegedly over an argument about the child
taking a bath.

Kimberly M. Fry, 36, was arrested and charged
Thursday with murder for allegedly strangling her daughter Camden at
her home at 73 Ricci Lane on Tuesday.

According to the Providence Journal, Fry's daughter was discovered dead in her bedroom
Tuesday morning by her father, Timothy, who reported last seeing his
daughter about 12 hours beforehand in her bed, and presumed she was
sleeping.

Police affidavits uncovered by the Journal indicate
"Kimberly Fry had made statements against her interests regarding
killing her daughter" and that she was admitted to the intensive care
unit of South County Hospital at 6 p.m. Tuesday, the day Camden was
found strangled.

The Journal also reported a hospital employee
told police that Fry stated to her, "I should be protecting my daughter
and I could not protect her from me."

Police affidavits indicate Kimberly Fry allegedly strangled her daughter over an argument the two
had over whether the child would take a bath.

The Fry family has a connection to the Seacoast but the extent of it is unclear.

Timothy and Kimberly Fry had a home on Bartlett Street in Dover that was
transferred to another couple in 2001, according to real estate
transfers.

Dover Police Lt. Dave Terlemezian said local police
haven't been contacted about the murder and said his department had no
contact with her.

Kimberly Fry didn't have any criminal history at Dover District Court of Strafford County Superior Court.

Fry was reportedly a registered nurse in the area when she attended the
University of New Hampshire, according to a wedding announcement
published in the Journal in 1997. Her husband also reportedly attended
UNH and the couple was then listed as living in Rochester in 1997.

When contacted Friday afternoon, UNH officials were unable to confirm the
two went to the school or when they may have graduated from the
institution.

Fry's maiden name was Souza and her family is from
Massachusetts, according to the wedding announcement. Her husband's
family is from Rhode Island.

More recently the Fry family resided in Moultonborough, where Kimberly was the board chair of the
Lakes Region Habitat for Humanity until May 2007.

Moultonborough Police Chief Scott Kinmond confirmed Friday morning that Rhode Island
police called his department Thursday evening looking for any
information about Kimberly Fry.

Habitat for Humanity Board Chair Leonard Campbell said this morning that Kimberly Fry of Moultonborough
had served as board chair in 2007, but said he had no further
information.

"This was a horrible shock," said Marie Hatton of
Moultonborough, who lives across the street from the former Geneva
Point Road home of Kimberly and Timothy Fry and their late daughter.

Hatton said she didn't know the Frys well but remembers attending a Christmas
pageant a few years ago in which then 5-year-old Camden performed. "She
made such an impression of us. She was so adorable."

"What a lovely child. This is so tragic," said the Rev. Earl Miller, who is
retired from Habitat for Humanity and who knew both Camden and Kimberly
Fry. "She was so happy."

Miller said he had visited the Frys in their Moultonborough home numerous times and always recalled Camden as a happy and beautiful little girl who loved to draw. He said he was
aware that Kimberly had some medical problems but couldn't comment as
to why she was reportedly wheelchair bound.

"She was not when I knew her," Miller said.

An employee in the Carroll County Registrar of Deeds said Friday that
Timothy and Kimberly Fry bought a house at 28 Geneva Point Road in May
2003 and sold it four years later in May 2007.

Kimberly Fry has no criminal record in Carroll County but documents filed with the clerk
of courts indicate she leveled a civil stalking dispute, which was
dismissed, against a local physician. She also was granted a civil
order of restraint in 2004 against her father, Frank Souza of Florida.

Kinmond said Kimberly Fry alleged criminal threatening against Souza but said
she didn't want the police to pursue any criminal charges. Between
March 2004 and April 2007, Kinmond said Kimberly Fry was stopped three
times for speeding and once for defective equipment.

In March 2004, Kinmond said Kimberly Fry reported a confrontation with a framing
contractor but said no criminal charges came from the altercation.

He said his department also went to a civil standby at her home in April
2007 while a Wolfeboro store picked up some furniture for which she
allegedly did not pay after the store office manager reported Fry was
"very verbally irrational."

Others, including Lisa Lylyk, remember a very different Kimberly Fry.

"She was the sweetest lady," said Lylyk, who credited Kimberly Fry with
being one of the people in the Habitat for Humanity organization who
helped her get her home.

"Before we moved in she brought all of
us to the Moultonborough Central School for a celebration," said Lylyk.
"I couldn't imagine her hurting anybody."

The Journal is reporting Kimberly Fry is being held without bail and has been placed on suicide watch.

Kimberly Fry
strangled her 8-year-old daughter, Camden, a police detective’s
affidavit contends, after Camden refused to take a bath.Hours
after the girl’s body was found in her bed Tuesday morning, a worker at
South County Hospital, where Kimberly Fry had been admitted, “heard
Kimberly Fry state that her daughter was crying and screaming and
wouldn’t take a bath and that she wanted the crying and screaming to
stop,” according to the affidavit. She “couldn’t stand the crying and
screaming anymore.”Another hospital worker told police
investigators she heard Kimberly Fry say: “I sat on her and put my
hands over her mouth to make her stop crying.”On Thursday, the
police charged Fry, 36, a registered nurse and parent volunteer who
emphatically preached cleanliness in the schools, with murdering her
only child.Fry is being held without bail on a suicide watch at the Adult Correctional Institutions.The
affidavit, filed by detective Lt. Steven D. St. Onge in Washington
County District Court, says that upon questioning hospital employees,
“Police learned that Kimberly Fry had made statements against her
interest regarding killing her daughter.”“Specifically, in an
interview with Courtney Brier, an employee at the hospital, Ms. Brier
reported to police that Kimberly Fry stated to her that ‘I should be
protecting my daughter and I could not protect her from me.’ Ms. Brier
also reported to law-enforcement officials that she observed Kimberly
Fry write out a note to her husband stating, ‘Please don’t hate me.’ ”Another
employee, Sharon DeLuca, told investigators she heard Kimberly Fry say:
“I want to die. I strangled my daughter.” Hospital employee Barbara
Kettle is quoted as hearing Fry say she couldn’t stand listening to the
crying anymore and put her hands over her daughter’s mouth.The
St. Onge affidavit quotes members of the state medical examiner’s
office as saying that “significant bruising” on Camden’s upper body was
not consistent with death by natural causes. An autopsy determined the
cause of death as “manual strangulation.”According to Journal
records, the Frys were married in 1997 in a cliff-side ceremony in
Bermuda. His mother lived in Chepachet, her parents in Westport, Mass.
The couple had lived in Moultonborough, N.H., for several years before
moving in 2007 onto Ricci Lane, in North Kingstown, a circular family
neighborhood close to Route 4. Timothy Fry, 39, received a
degree in water-resource management from the University of New
Hampshire. Kimberly Fry was a nurse who also served as chairwoman of
the New Hampshire Lakes Region Habitat for Humanity, an organization
that builds homes for the needy.On Tuesday morning, the
affidavit says, Timothy Fry called the North Kingstown police about
9:40 a.m. after finding his daughter lying face up on her bed and
unresponsive. In an interview with detectives in their pale-yellow
ranch home, he told the police he last saw his daughter alive Monday
about 5:45 p.m. just before he left to go to a hockey game. She and her
mother were sitting on the couch watching television. Timothy
Fry said that at around 8 p.m. Monday he received a call from his wife
who said she was having problems with their daughter about taking a
bath.The police also spoke to Kimberly Fry on Tuesday morning at
the house. According to the affidavit, she told investigators “that her
daughter fell in the shower and that she had to drag her back to her
room.”It was in the house that investigators with the medical
examiner’s office pointed out to detectives the “significant bruising”
on the girl’s upper chest. The Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth & Families had no prior contact with the North Kingstown family.Kimberly Fry was known as a passionate volunteer to school officials in town. She
helped with fundraisers and crafted artwork for her daughter’s school,
Fishing Cove Elementary, and she often visited classrooms, warning
pupils of the dangers of using their hands instead of their elbows to
cover a cough or sneeze.She appeared before the School Committee
in May and spoke vigorously about the need for proper hygiene and her
concerns surrounding the “gross” practice of using foods such as
marshmallows and M&Ms in teaching lessons. Kimberly Fry
told the committee that she’d raised concerns multiple times about the
food-handling practices in school. “My concern is, if you give carte
blanche to teachers, what will happen even more than is already
happening?”The schools should check with the national Centers
for Disease Control, she urged the committee. “It’s really about
modeling for our kids … so they can have long healthy lives.”

The former Moultonborough woman charged with strangling her 8-year-old
daughter to death once was a substitute nurse at the Moultonborough
Central School.

Police affidavits reported by the Providence Journal
indicate Kimberly Fry strangled her daughter because "she couldn't
stand the crying and screaming anymore" when her daughter refused to
take a bath.

School Superintendent Mike Lancour said Fry, 36,
now of 72 Ricci Lane in North Kingstown, R.I., substituted occasionally
when she and her family lived in their community from 2006 to 2007. Fry
earned her nursing degree from the University of New Hampshire and
lived in Dover during her studies.

"Everyone here thinks this is
such a tragedy," said Lancour, who remembered 8-year-old Camden as a
nice little girl. "We are all mourning the loss of this young life."

Fry and her husband Timothy had been living in North Kingstown, R.I., when
he found young Camden dead in her bed on the morning of Aug. 18. He
told police he had seen her in her bed Monday evening but thought she
was sleeping.

Cause of death was listed as "manual strangulation."

The Frys lived on Geneva Point Road from May 2003 until May 2007 and
Kimberly Fry was also the head of the Lakes Region Habitat for Humanity
and served as its president until May 2007.

According to affidavits filed in Washington County District Court, Fry told a
hospital employee, "I want to die. I strangled my daughter."

Both Frys were reportedly very active in their daughter's education and
Kimberly Fry had given talks about handwashing and personal hygiene. On
May 18, Kimberly Fry appeared before the North Kingstown School
Committee to speak about teachers using marshmallows, candy and cereal
to teach mathematics and not taking precautions as to cleanliness.

While
she was living in Moultonborough, Kimberly Fry had three speeding
complaints. Chief of Police Scott Kinmond reported she had one civil
assist with his department when she argued with a furniture store
manager about repossessing some furniture for which she had not paid.

Carroll County courts also indicate she had a restraining order for one year
against her father, Frank Souza of Florida, that expired in 2005. She
had also filed a stalking complaint against a local physician that was
dismissed by a Carroll County Superior Court Judge in 2006.

Kimberly Fry is being held without bail in a Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institute. The Providence Journal reported Friday that Fry is on medication and suicide watch

Delay possible in mom's murder case
Kimberly Fry's accused of strangling daughter

Updated: Wednesday, 19 Aug 2009, 1:44 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 19 Aug 2009, 1:44 PM EDT

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) - A lawyer for a North Kingstown woman accused of strangling her 8-year-old daughter is seeking to postpone his client's bail hearing.

The hearing for Kimberly Fry had been scheduled for Thursday at the Washington County Courthouse. Defense lawyer C. Leonard O'Brien said Wednesday he was seeking to postpone the hearing until early next month, but he would not elaborate.

Fry was arraigned last week on one court of murder in the Aug. 10 strangulation death of her daughter, Camden. She has not entered a plea.

A hospital employee who tended to Fry has said in a police affidavit that Fry confessed to killing her daughter because the child had refused to take a bath. O'Brien has not commented on the allegations.
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_ap_south_kingstown_possible_delay_kimberly_fry_bail_hearing_20090819_nek

Department of Health suspends Kimberly Fry's nursing license
Friday, 28 August 2009
By LINDSAY OLIVIER
lolivier@ricentral.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

NORTH KINGSTOWN — The Rhode Island Department of Health has suspended North Kingstown resident Kimberly Fry’s nursing license. Fry is accused of murdering her 8-year-old daughter, Camden Fry, on Aug. 11.

In an order dated Aug. 18, Dr. David Gifford, department director writes that the “continuation of the license of Kimberly Fry as a registered nurse constitutes an imminent threat to the health, welfare and safety of the public.”


According to Rhode Island General Laws 5-34-26, the suspension will continue “indefinitely” pending further order of the Department of Health. The suspension was faxed and mailed to Fry’s attorney, C. Leonard O’Brien.


Fry also may request a hearing on the suspension which will be scheduled within 10 days of the request. According to the health department, there’s been no request on the suspension.


Fry is being held without bail at the Women’s Center of the Adult Correctional Institutions, with a bail hearing scheduled for Sept. 1.


In an affidavit released in district court, the girl’s father, Timothy Fry, stated he last saw Camden watching television with his wife at 5:45 p.m. on Aug. 10 before leaving to attend a hockey game.


He stated his wife called him around 8 p.m. and said she was having problems with their daughter in taking a bath. Timothy Fry discovered Camden the next morning around 9:45 in her bedroom, unresponsive.


The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office said a grand jury will determine the specificity of the murder charge, be it first, second or third degree.


A call to Fry’s attorney was not immediately returned.
http://www.ricentral.com/content/view/182762/237/

N. Kingstown murder suspect left trail of unsettling behavior in New Hampshire

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, August 23, 2009

By Tom Mooney

Journal Staff Writer

When Kimberly and Timothy Fry left the $500,000 home they had built in the woods of New Hampshire and moved to the suburbs of North Kingstown in 2007, they left some people around Lake Winnipesaukee wondering about Kim Fry’s sometimes peculiar nature.

On one hand, the substitute nurse at her daughter’s school and leader of the Lakes Region Habitat for Humanity was an earnest volunteer and the driving force for the first two Habitat homes for the poor in Moultonborough.

But disagreeing with her could prove uncomfortable.

“Sometimes she was very friendly and sometimes she had all the answers,” said former neighbor and Habitat board member the Rev. Earl Miller, who visited the Fry home numerous times. “Sometimes, emotionally, something else was going on.”

In 2006 Kimberly Fry filed a stalking complaint against her former doctor in the District Court of Southern Carroll County after he allegedly sent her two text messages. During a hearing, Fry “testified at length” as to what she characterized as the doctor’s “violent nature and his predisposition to harm her.”

Fry alleged a past “sexual relationship with him and admitted to a romantic entanglement with his brother” as well, say court papers.

Judge Robert C. Varney noted Fry’s “anxiety was manifest throughout the hearing but her fears seemed directed not just toward” the doctor but his wife and brother as well. “She appears to blame the extended family for recent professional and personal reverses.”

Varney dismissed the complaint, saying Fry had given no examples at all of jealous, obsessive or violent behavior on the part of the doctor and that his text messages “were not shown to be such that would cause a reasonable person to fear for his or her personal safety.”

There had been other incidences, too, involving the courts or police in the four years the Frys lived in Moultonborough, including a 2004 complaint that Kim Fry filed against her father, alleging “criminal threatening” after the two ended up screaming at each other during one Christmas-time visit. Kim Fry grabbed a knife, she said, to protect herself and her daughter.

“I fear for my family,” she wrote in her request for a restraining order. “He can appear to be a kind man and then with little warning — snap. This is why I fear for my life and the live (sic) of my daughter.”

In April 2007, a local furniture company called police and asked that an officer stand by as the store repossessed some furniture at the Fry home. The police said “Mrs. Fry was very verbally irrational to the store’s office manager.”

A month later Kim and Tim Fry, and their daughter, Camden, who had just turned 7, said goodbye to the small town of Moultonborough. They sold their home and by mid-August had moved into a contemporary ranch house on Ricci Lane in North Kingstown.

Tim Fry worked as a sales representative for a company that sold fluid pumps while Kim Fry, now 36, resumed her volunteering, focusing her energies again at Camden’s elementary school, where she preached the need for frequent hand-washing, and campaigned against the “gross” practice of candy and food allowed in classrooms.

School officials and neighbors knew Kimberly Fry as a devoted mother.

Twelve days ago, the police charged her with strangling her only child.

A detective’s affidavit contends Fry murdered 8-year-old Camden after the child refused to take a bath.

Tim Fry found his daughter’s body lying face up in her bed on Tuesday, Aug. 11. The police came and questioned the couple.Hours later, Kimberly Fry was admitted to South County Hospital. Workers there heard Kimberly Fry make several incriminating statements, the affidavit says, including that “her daughter was crying and screaming and wouldn’t take a bath and that she wanted the crying and screaming to stop.”

Another hospital worker told detectives she heard Kim Fry say “I sat on her and put my hands over her mouth to make her stop crying.”

“I want to die,” still another worker reported hearing Fry say. “I strangled my daughter.”

KIMBERLY FRY was 28 when she gave birth to Camden on May 6, 2001.

By then the Frys had been married almost four years and were living in the southeast corner of New Hampshire, not far from the University of New Hampshire, in Durham.

Providence Journal archives show that Kim Fry, a registered nurse, had grown up in Westport, Mass., and graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth. Tim Fry graduated from Ponaganset High School in Glocester in 1988 and then completed Air Force basic training at Lackland Air Force Base two years later.

At the time of their 1997 wedding, Tim Fry worked as a respiratory therapist and attended UNH. Kim Fry had enrolled at the university to earn a master’s degree in family studies but never finished the program, the school says.

In May 2003, the Frys bought five acres of woods for $65,000 on Geneva Point — a long, secluded peninsula jutting south into Lake Winnipesaukee — and began building their “dream home,” said Mr. Miller, who lived near the Frys while they rented a house in Moultonborough during the construction.

Their Cape Cod-style home would have gabled-roof peaks, a fireplace, a wrap-around porch and hardwood floors. Most of their neighbors were seasonal residents who lived on the other side of Geneva Point Road, beside the shimmering waters of New Hampshire’s largest lake. They were glad to hear a family was moving in year-round who could keep an eye on things, particularly in the winter.

The Frys paid special attention to Camden’s bedroom. They painted the walls powder blue and painstakingly etched butterflies and ladybugs and rainbows. They had a play castle built in the room and painted “Camden” across the bottom of the room’s big window seat.

But not all went smoothly with the home project.

In March 2004, Kimberly Fry reported to Moultonborough police a “confrontation” she had had with her framing contractor involving her “dissatisfaction with the framer’s productivity.” In turn the contractor had threatened to “take a sledge hammer to the house,” said Fry.

No criminal charges were filed but Kimberly Fry told the police she wanted the matter logged “in case something should occur to the property.”

Marie Hatton lived across Geneva Point Road from the Frys in the summer. She remembered meeting the couple when they were building their home but like many others didn’t know them well. She did remember Camden, though, from a Christmas pageant the young girl participated in at a local community center: “She was outgoing and beautiful, very happy and very sweet.”

Kimberly Fry, as she would become in North Kingstown, was well known to Moultonborough school officials.

She worked occasionally as a substitute nurse at the Moultonborough Central School, where Camden was enrolled, and frequently participated in parent-teacher activities, said Supt. Mike Lancour.

“She was a real advocate for her daughter Camden and was an advocate as well for keeping the school environment clean and safe for all the kids,” said Lancour. “She was a real supporter for cleanliness, making sure students washed their hands before and after lunch and [after] going to the bathroom, but it was nothing that we considered out of the ordinary.”

The Frys’ departure from Moultonborough — they sold their house and property for $699,333 — seemed abrupt to some members of the board of directors at the Lakes Regional Habitat for Humanity.

Kimberly Fry had worked so hard recruiting volunteers for the home-building program “and then she was gone,” said Leonard Campbell, the board’s current chairman.

Mr. Miller said Timothy Fry talked of moving to Rhode Island because most of his customers for his pump-selling business were in Southern New England.

The news of Camden’s murder shook Mr. Miller so hard — she used to sit on his lap during visits to their home and draw him pictures — that he wondered whether he would be up to officiating the following Sunday at the Conway Village Congregational Church.

He did make the service but asked for understanding if he seemed out of sorts:

“I’m having a very difficult time,” he told the congregation, “dealing with the murder of an 8-year-old girl I knew.”

THE FEELINGS are the same on North Kingstown’s Ricci Lane, the circular family neighborhood that the Frys blended into two years ago, attending the annual block parties and where Camden played with knots of children.

On Tuesday, Aug. 11, word traveled fast along the lane about Tim Fry, 39, finding Camden dead in her bed that morning. He would tell police he had last seen his daughter the previous evening as he left for a hockey game. Camden was sitting on the couch watching television with her mother.

At around 8 that Monday night, Tim Fry told the police, he received a telephone call from his wife saying she was having problems with their daughter’s reluctance to take a bath.

A police affidavit says Kimberly Fry initially told detectives that “her daughter fell in the shower and that she had to drag her back to her room.”

Investigators with the state medical examiner’s office found severe bruising on Camden’s chest and listed “manual strangulation” as the cause of death. The police arrested Kimberly Fry Wednesday, Aug. 12, at South County Hospital where, along with making self- incriminating remarks, she had also reportedly scrawled a note to her husband begging: “Please don’t hate me.”

She remains held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions. Her lawyers sought and received a judge’s order requiring that prison officials continue dispensing an undisclosed medicine to her.

C. Leonard O’Brien, one of her lawyers, said it would be inappropriate for him to comment about his client. He would say only: “This is an extraordinarily sad tragedy.”

Three months ago, Kimberly Fry stood in front of the North Kingstown School Committee and rambled on about the potential dangers of children spreading germs in schools through improper hygiene and relaxed food policies.

“Parents like me,” she said, “…really want to minimize risk. We can’t control everything, but we can minimize risk to our students and try to keep our students healthier."
http://www.projo.com/news/content/fry_08-23-09_VLFFU10_v3.12e99d9.html

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. -- A North Kingstown woman accused of strangling her 8-year-old daughter in her bed was ordered held without bail Thursday after being arraigned on one count of murder.
http://www2.turnto10.com/news/2009/aug/13/woman_accused_of_strangling_young_daughter-ar-53442/

Hearing set for accused child killer
District court will hold a status hearing

Updated: Wednesday, 30 Sep 2009, 12:55 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 30 Sep 2009, 1:51 AM EDT

* Jeremy Brown

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - The case of a woman charged with murdering her 8-year-old daughter is set to return to court.

A status hearing is set for Wednesday morning for Kimberly Fry.

The North Kingstown woman is accused of strangling her daughter Camden last month after a fight over bath time.

According to the autopsy report from Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Gilson, Camden Fry died from "cardio respiratory distress due to asphyxia due to manual strangulation."

Fry has been held without bail at the ACI since she was arrested.
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_wpri_north_kingstown_kimberly_fry_status_hearing_20090930_jab

http://courtconnect.courts.ri.gov/pls/ri_adult/ck_public_qry_doct.cp_dktrpt_frames?backto=P&case_id=42-2009-02542&begin_date=&end_date=

Docket Entries

Description
13-AUG-2009 INITIAL CASE DATA ENTRY
13-AUG-2009 DEFENDANT HELD WITHOUT BAIL
13-AUG-2009 FELONY INITIAL APPEARANCE
19-AUG-2009 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING
01-SEP-2009 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING
30-SEP-2009 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING
18-NOV-2009 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING
06-JAN-2010 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING
16-FEB-2010 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING
16-MAR-2010 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING
17-MAR-2010 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING
05-MAY-2010 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING
09-JUN-2010 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING
23-JUN-2010 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING
11-AUG-2010 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING
26-AUG-2010 CONTINUED FOR FURTHER HEARING

Case Description

Case ID: 42-2009-02542 - KIMBERLY FRY
Court : (DC) District Court Location : (4D) 4th District Court
Filing Date: Thursday , August 13th, 2009
Type: F - FELONY
Status: none

Arrest Information


Arresting Agency : NORTH KINGSTOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT

Charges


Charge# Charge Disposition / Date Sentence / Judge
1 MURDER I




Case Event Schedule

Event Date Location Judge
BAIL HEARING 20-AUG-2009
4th District Court CLIFTON, JUDGE W
BAIL HEARING 01-SEP-2009
4th District Court CLIFTON, JUDGE W
STATUS CONFERENCE 30-SEP-2009
4th District Court unassigned
STATUS CONFERENCE 18-NOV-2009
4th District Court unassigned
STATUS CONFERENCE 06-JAN-2010
4th District Court unassigned
STATUS CONFERENCE 17-FEB-2010
4th District Court unassigned
STATUS CONFERENCE 17-MAR-2010
4th District Court unassigned
STATUS CONFERENCE 18-MAR-2010
4th District Court unassigned
STATUS CONFERENCE 05-MAY-2010
4th District Court unassigned
STATUS CONFERENCE 09-JUN-2010
4th District Court unassigned
STATUS CONFERENCE 23-JUN-2010
4th District Court unassigned
STATUS CONFERENCE 11-AUG-2010
4th District Court unassigned
STATUS CONFERENCE 26-AUG-2010
4th District Court unassigned
STATUS CONFERENCE 26-OCT-2010
4th District Court unassigned


Case Parties

A Rhode Island woman charged with strangling her 8-year-old daughter is due in court next week.
Kimberly Fry of North Kingston is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Washington County Superior Court on a charge of second-degree murder.She was indicted earlier this month after waiving her right earlier to a bail hearing.
Fry is accused in the August 2009 death of her daughter Camden, whose father found the girl unresponsive in bed. A hospital employee who tended to Fry said in a police affidavit that Fry confessed to killing her daughter because the child refused to take a bath.

PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE

20-MAY-2011

WASHINGTON COUNTY

CARNES, JUDGE

http://courtconnect.courts.ri.gov/pls/ri_adult/ck_public_qry_doct.cp_dktrpt_frames?backto=P&case_id=W1-2010-0413A&begin_date=&end_date=

PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE

10-JUN-2011

WASHINGTON COUNTY

CARNES, JUDGE

http://courtconnect.courts.ri.gov/pls/ri_adult/ck_public_qry_doct.cp_dktrpt_frames?backto=P&case_id=W1-2010-0413A&begin_date=&end_date=

Lawyer seeks media ban in Fry case

NORTH KINGSTOWN — The lawyer for Kimberly Fry, the local woman accused of strangling her 8-year-old daughter, Camden, in 2009, is seeking to have all cameras and recording devices banned from the courtroom for next month’s trial.

In a request to Superior Court Judge William E. Carnes Jr., public defender Sarah Wright argues that having cameras in the courtroom during the trial, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 13, would be a distraction to jurors and would be “unduly prejudicial” to Fry, making it difficult for her to participate in her own defense.

Wright said because of the “highly emotional” and “graphic and disturbing” details that will be brought forth in the trial, Fry is “extremely concerned about the devastating effect widespread media coverage of this trial would have not only on herself, but her husband’s family and the community in general.”

Fry, 38, was arrested Aug. 12, 2009 and charged with one count of first-degree murder after she allegedly strangled her daughter in their home at 73 Ricci Lane. Fry told police the girl was screaming, kicking, punching and biting her and wouldn’t take a bath. In October 2010, a grand jury handed up an indictment of second-degree murder and Fry later pleaded innocent to the charge. A second-degree murder charge is defined as murder without premeditation or deliberation and carries a life sentence if convicted.

Fry has been held without bail at the Women’s Center at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston since Aug. 13, 2009.

As part of her pretrial motions, Wright also is requesting any past criminal charges against medical examiner Dr. William Cox be submitted to the court record, as well as any ethics violations or sanctions imposed by the state Medical Board.

As reported by the Independent on June 2, 2011, court records in Washington County Superior Court include findings from the state Medical Examiner’s Office that Camden had been sexually assaulted on more than one occasion.

The report also stated there were both old and new bruises that were signs of recent and past sexual assaults. Camden’s body was taken to the state Medical Examiner’s Office, where Dr. Cox ruled on Aug. 12, 2009, that the cause of her death was cardio-respiratory arrest because of asphyxiation due to manual strangulation.

Cox’s reputation was brought into question after an Oklahoma newspaper, The Oklahoman, reported in December 2010 that Cox had pleaded guilty to criminal ethics violations in 1996 in Ohio. Cox had been applying for the position of chief medical examiner in Oklahoma when the story broke. He was accused of personally profiting from autopsies while he was coroner there and of hiding the income from authorities. Cox pleaded guilty in 1996 to nine misdemeanors, paid $138,000 in restitution, was put on probation, sentenced to 30 days at a halfway house and ordered to perform community service.

When asked Tuesday if Cox’s criminal past would cause the findings from his autopsy report to be dismissed, Amy Kempe, spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office, would not comment.

“Preparing for trial, our office does not comment on matters as such,” she said.

A timeline of the events surrounding Camden’s death, provided by police, states that Camden’s father, Timothy D. Fry, called 911 at 9:40 a.m. on Aug. 11, 2009. He told police he had last seen his daughter in her bed on Aug. 10 at about 9:45 p.m. after he arrived back from playing hockey and assumed she was sleeping. He told investigators he found his wife sleeping on a chair in the living room and said she was “incoherent.”

It was later learned that she had taken several painkillers and other prescription medicine and written a suicide note to her husband.

The case file includes a police report listing the prescription medicines found in the home as Orphenadrine (a muscle relaxer), Cymbalta (an antidepressant), Seroquel (used to treat symptoms of schizophrenia), Diazepam (used to treat anxiety and muscle pain) and Naproxen (a muscle relaxer).

A copy of the suicide note was also included in the court case file. In it Fry writes that she views herself as “worthless” and said she was “beaten down by an eight-year-old.”

“I wish it could just be us,” wrote Fry to her husband.

Timothy Fry told the Attorney General’s Office on May 20, 2011 he recalled an incident on Aug 10, 2009, the day before Camden’s death, when Kimberly told him, “I wish she [Camden] wasn’t around.”

Both parents were described in police reports as “hysterical” when police arrived at their home and Kimberly Fry first told officers that Camden fell in the shower and later said she fell on the bathroom floor. When police tried to question Fry further they said she began mumbling incoherently.

Before Camden’s body was removed from the scene, Fry began sobbing and said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” according to police reports.

Based on the medical examiner’s ruling that Camden was strangled and results from the police investigation, an arrest warrant was executed for Fry while she was in the Intensive Care Unit at South County Hospital in Wakefield.

In police interviews, several hospital staffers alleged that Fry admitted to killing her daughter and scrawled a note to her husband stating, “Please don’t hate me.”

She later told hospital staff she “deserved to suffer” and said she should have “just jumped off a bridge.” Hospital staff said she asked several times if she was in a nightmare and repeatedly called out for “Timmy,” presumably her husband.

http://www.neindependent.com/articles/2011/08/05/local/doc4e3ab0cd04f64914083897.txt

Posted on Friday, 09.16.11

Opening statements begin in RI mom's murder trial

HE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. -- A prosecutor says in an opening trial statement that a Rhode Island mother strangled her daughter after the 8-year-old refused to take a bath, but the defense says Kimberly Fry did not intend to kill the girl.
Thirty-eight-year-old Kimberly Fry broke down several times Friday in Washington County Superior Court as prosecutors and defense attorneys described the death of her daughter, Camden, on Aug. 10, 2009.
Assistant Attorney General Stephen Regine says Fry strangled Camden after she refused to take a bath.
Public defender Sarah Wright says the girl died as Fry attempted to restrain her. She says Fry did not intend to kill her daughter.
Fry is charged with second-degree murder. A jury of seven men and seven women are hearing the case


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/16/2409680/murder-trial-to-begin-for-ri-mother.html#ixzz1Y8gIB9eO

Therapist: Kimberly Fry Blamed Daughter For Depression; Felt Hopeless

The admission came less than two weeks before the girl's death, for which her mother is on trial for murder.

Less than two weeks before her daughter's death, Kimberly Fry told her family's therapist she blamed the 8-year-old for her depression, thought she was an incompetent mother and felt the situation was hopeless.

Wendy Phillips, a family therapist with Rhode Island Hospital, said she was concerned upon hearing such an admission that Fry may be at risk of harming herself, noting that the word "hopeless" is thought to be a red flag in her profession. While she said Fry convinced her during the July 28, 2009, meeting that "she was just upset" and not at risk of hurting herself, Phillips directed Fry's husband, Tim, to monitor her behavior and take her to the emergency room if necessary.

Just less than two weeks later, Camden Fry died of asphyxiation in the family's home at 73 Ricci Lane. Kimberly Fry stands trial for second-degree murder in her daughter's death, a crime that could carry a life sentence if she is convicted.

The Fry family had begun counseling in April of that year, seeking to alleviate stress and obtain more parenting skills in dealing with Camden's frequent outbusts and tantrums, Phillips said from the stand Friday afternoon. Phillips referred the family to Dr. Christine Trask, a neuro psychologist with Rhode Island Hospital, who diagnosed Camden with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Phillips said she continued to counsel the family every two weeks, then every month as progress appeared to be made. In the July session, however, the situation appeared to have devolved. The parents were arguing during the session, and Kimberly Fry was attempting to get her daughter to pick sides in the argument, "in an inappropriate manner," Phillips wrote in her notes from the session. Phillips excused Camden from the room so she would not be subjected to the emotional session.

Phillips testified she saw the parents one more time, on Aug. 4, and it had appeared the situation had improved, though Kimberly Fry criticized her husband and "said she feels better when she can make others look fallible," Phillips said.

Less than a week later, on Aug. 10, Camden Fry died at the hands of her mother. That much is not in dispute. But, did Kimberly Fry intend to kill her daughter? Attorneys presented very different answers to the question Friday.

Prosecutor Stephen Regine said Fry’s own words indicate her intent. After strangling her daughter, Fry took a mix of antidepressants and pain killers in a bid to kill herself, at the same time penning a suicide note to her husband, Tim, Regine said during his opening argument Friday morning.

In the note, Fry indicated she could no longer handle the crying and outbursts from her daughter, the prosecutor told the jury of seven men and seven women. Regine read excerpts from the letter, quoting Fry as writing, “I wanted to run away, not from you but from her. All I wanted was a nice decent life. I was beaten down by an 8-year-old.”

Regine told the jury Fry had made similar statements, blaming Camden for her depression and expressing her desire to be alone with her husband as early as Camden’s seventh birthday in 2008. To achieve that end, Fry strangled her daughter in their home, continually applying pressure to her neck and chest for upwards of four minutes until the girl died, Regine said.

The next morning, after Tim Fry found Camden’s body and called authorities, Kimberly Fry sobbed over her daughter’s body, saying “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Regine said. She later admitted to employees at South County Hospital to killing her daughter, Regine said, telling a nurse she had “sat on her daughter and put her hands on her mouth to make her stop crying.”

Defense attorney Sarah Wright acknowledged that Camden died at her mother’s hands, but told the jury evidence will show there was no intent to kill or harm her daughter. Rather, she was performing a restraint technique designed to stop the temper tantrum Camden was throwing after refusing to take a bath, Wright said.

Wright told the jury an independent autopsy determined the death occurred in the course of performing the restraint, not due to manual strangulation as the medical examiner concluded.

Wright offered a different interpretation of Fry’s words in her suicide letter, noting the prosecution cannot establish a timeline as to when Fry wrote the letter. The note, Wright said, never mentions taking her daughter’s life. Rather, it discusses Fry’s own difficulties. “This is not a note that explains what happened to Camden,” Wright said. “It’s about what happened to Kimberly.”

Wright painted Fry as a concerned mother who repeatedly attempted to seek help for her daughter’s condition. Amanda Kirkutis, Camden's second-grade teacher at Fishing Cove Elementary School, said Kimberly frequently volunteered in the classroom, and both parents met with teachers at the school to address difficulties Camden was having. Kirkutis described Camden as an energetic, if sometimes a bit mischeivous, little girl, who was having some trouble with reading and writing. Kimberly and Tim Fry requested the school test her for ADHD, but the school followed its protocol of implementing in-house strategies to handle such situations. The Frys had requested the testing because Camden felt bad that she was falling behind and frequently acted up at home.

The girl had another of her outbursts the night of her death, Wright said, and Kimberly Fry was trying to calm her when she attempted the restraint technique.

“This is something Kimberly Fry will never forgive herself for,” Wright said. “But did she intend to kill her? While it’s true that Kimberly Fry’s actions did cause Camden’s death, the evidence will show it was unintentional.”

http://eastgreenwich.patch.com/articles/therapist-kimberly-fry-blamed-daughter-for-depression-felt-hopeless#photo-2624191

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. - A mother strangled
her 8-year-old daughter in 2009 after the girl refused to take a bath,
prosecutors said yesterday on the opening day of the woman’s
second-degree murder trial.

Kimberly Fry’s lawyer said her client never intended to kill her daughter.

Fry,
38, broke down in Washington County Superior Court as assistant
Attorney General Stephen A. Regine displayed for jurors a photo of her
daughter, Camden, during his opening statements.

“Her
mother, on Aug. 10, 2009, strangled her and murdered her,’’ Regine told
the jury of seven men and seven women. “She killed her with her own
hands.’’

Regine quoted a
suicide note written by Fry in which she told her husband Timothy, 41,
that she was “beaten down by an 8-year-old’’ and could not take her
daughter’s crying fits and refusal to take a bath.

He accused Fry of blaming Camden for her depression and other problems.

Public defender Sarah Wright said the girl’s death came as Fry attempted to restrain her.

“This death was unintentional and tragic,’’ Wright said.

Fry has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. The girl was found dead on her bed Aug. 11, 2009.

If convicted, she faces up to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

Judge
William Carnes Jr. has banned video and audio recording equipment from
the courtroom out of concern that Fry’s case may draw comparisons to the
trial of Casey Anthony. The Florida woman was acquitted in July of
murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

Fry’s trial is expected to take two to three weeks.

Court
filings depict Fry as a troubled woman who saw herself as an inadequate
and frustrated mother who thought life would be better without her
daughter. They also paint a picture of a mother who became despondent
after her daughter’s death, overdosed on prescription medications, and
disclosed her rambling thoughts in handwritten missives left for her
husband.

“I hurt my
daughter,’’ Fry told Barbara Kettle, South County Hospital patient care
technician, while being treated in the Intensive Care Unit after the
girl’s death. “I sat on her, put my hands over her mouth to make her
stop crying.’’ She also told her husband that the girl “started choking,
gagging a little bit’’ after she put her hand over the girl’s mouth.

Kettle
told investigators Fry disclosed she “couldn’t stand the crying and
screaming anymore’’ from Camden, who refused to take a bath the night
before while her father was out.

“I
just couldn’t take it anymore. This is no way to live,’’ reads the note
police say Fry left for her husband. “Fighting and fighting, just
because I ask her to take a bath.’’
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/09/17/murder_trial_begins_for_ri_mother/

Husband: Kimbery Fry Said She Wished Daughter 'Wasn't Around'
In emotional testimony Monday, Timothy Fry recalls the events surrounding his daughter's death in August 2009.



Kimberly Fry blamed her daughter for her depression, and frequently expressed her wish that the young girl wasn't around so she and her husband could be alone the way it used to be, according to emotional testimony from her husband, Timothy Fry, Monday afternoon.

Fry broke down briefly Monday when describing the last time he saw his daughter, on the evening of Aug. 10, 2009, as he was leaving the family's North Kingstown home for a hockey game. The next morning, Tim Fry found his daughter dead in her bed, a victim of strangulation, according to a state medical examiner. Kimberly Fry is on trial for second-degree murder, charged with strangling her 8-year-old daughter after a temper tantrum over taking a bath.

The couple for years had been dealing with frequent outbursts from their daughter, Camden, who was diagnosed with Attention Deficicit Hyperactivity Disorder, Fry said. Camden would sometimes refuse to stop playing when it was time for a bath, or time for the family to leave a party, for example, Fry testified. He said when he was traveling for work, Kimberly Fry would tell him of more violent outbusts, including screaming, kicking and hitting, which he said he did not witness when he was home.

The family sought counseling for their daughter and the family as a whole, receiving treatment from family therapist Wendy Phillips, who also testified last week that that Kimberly Fry blamed their daughter for her depression. Kimberly also threatened to kill herself during a counseling session, Timothy Fry said, but was able to convince Phillips that it was an idle threat.

Less than two weeks later, on the same night as Camden's death, Kimberly Fry took a mix of antidepressants and pain killers in a failed bid to kill herself, penning a note to her husband. In the note, Fry indicated she could no longer handle the crying and outbursts from Camden, prosecutor Stephen Regine told the jury of seven men and seven women last Friday. Regine read excerpts from the letter, quoting Fry as writing, “I wanted to run away, not from you but from her. All I wanted was a nice decent life. I was beaten down by an 8-year-old.”

In earlier testimony Monday, Timothy Fry described his daughter as a happy, energetic, spirited little girl who loved to swim, play soccer and hockey, and play with her friends. From the time she was young, however, the parents noticed frequent outbursts, particulalrly around times of "transitions" — when it was time to end play time, or move from one activity to another. Eventually, the couple came to realize Camden was displaying attributes of ADHD, a diagnosis that was confirmed in the summer of 2009.

Once she started taking medicine, Camden's behavior improved, but some episodes would still occur, Fry said. He described a time that summer when he was on a business trip and got a call from Kim describing an outburst in which "Kim had to sit on Camden to stop her from screaming and hitting."

He said Kimberly Fry, a nurse and master's candidate in family therapy, often researched techniques to work with ADHD-afflicted children. It was just such a "restraint technique" Kimberly Fry was employing on the night of her daughter's death, defense attorney Sarah Wright said in her opening argument last Friday morning.

Timothy Fry is expected to return to the stand when court resumes Tuesday morning. Follow the trial daily on patch.com.

http://eastgreenwich.patch.com/articles/husband-kimbery-fry-said-she-wished-daughter-wasnt-around

UPDATE: Girl 'Choked A Little' As Mother Covered Mouth, Nose
Timothy Fry testified his wife said she sat on their daughter and tried to make her stop crying. Kimberly Fry is on trial for second-degree murder.



Kimberly Fry said she sat on top of her daughter and placed her hands over the 8-year-old girl’s nose and mouth in a bid to stop her from screaming, according to her husband’s testimony Tuesday afternoon. Camden Fry died of asphyxiation that night and her mother is on trial for second-degree murder.

Timothy Fry said he first spoke to his wife about what happened the evening of Aug. 10, 2009 two days later, as she lie in the Intensive Care Unit at South County Hospital after having taken a cocktail of prescription drugs in a failed bid to kill herself. Fry said his wife told him Camden, who had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, was out of control and had launched into a two-hour-long screaming fit during which she was kicking, punching and trying to bite her mother.

“She said she held her hands over her mouth and nose to stop Camden from crying,” Timothy Fry said. “Kim said Camden had started to choke a little bit.”

At that point, Timothy Fry said he had no idea how Camden had died. He had not seen the bruising on her chest and neck the investigation would later reveal. He said he noticed only the girl's discoloration and a small mark on her forehead when he found her dead in her bed.

In the most emotional testimony of the Kimberly Fry murder trial so far, Timothy Fry described the morning he found his 8-year-old daughter, breaking down in sobs Tuesday morning as prosecutor Stephen Regine played a CD of the 911 call he made on Aug. 11, 2009.

On the recording, Fry can be heard screaming and crying on the phone as he sought medical help for his 8-year-old daughter, Camden. "Oh God, my daughter is dead. She's dead," Timothy Fry is heard telling the dispatcher. "No, no, no. How can this be? How could this happen?"

The recording goes on for more than five minutes as Fry continues to scream and sob, yelling for his wife, who was mostly unresponsive. "Wake yourself, woman. What's wrong with you?" Timothy Fry is heard saying at least twice. "Our daughter is dead. She's dead. How could this be?"

Kimberly Fry is charged with strangling her daughter in their North Kingstown home the night before while Camden threw a temper tantrum over refusing to take a bath. If convicted of second-degree murder, she faces the possibility of life in prison. Defense attorney Sarah Wright has said Kimberly did not intend to strangle her daughter, but was performing a restraint technique aimed at stopping a tantrum. Kimberly Fry then reportedly took a mix of prescription drugs in a failed bid to kill herself, penning a suicide note to her husband, according to police reports and court filings.

On the evening of Aug. 10, Tim Fry returned home from a hockey game around 9:40 p.m., finding his wife half-asleep on the living room couch. He checked on his daughter, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully under the covers in her bed.

Nothing, he said, appeared out of place, and nothing was out of the ordinary. Kimberly frequently fell asleep on the couch due to the anti-anxiety medication and Benadryl she often took to help her sleep, he said. After helping her to bed, Kimberly Fry asked her husband to stay with her that night, which was unusual, Timothy Fry testified. He often slept in a spare room due to Kim's problems sleeping.

The next morning, Tim Fry woke up as usual, let out the dog, made coffee and began a typical Tuesday. Between 9 and 9:30 a.m., he said it occurred on him that Camden never slept that late, so he went to her room to check on her.

"I was standing in her doorway. It occurred to me she was in the same position as when I had seen her the night before," Fry said. "I stood there for at least a minute, trying to convince myself I could see the covers rising."

Fry walked to his daughter's bed, finding her eyes open and completely dilated. He testified he threw the covers off her, removed a stuffed elephant from her arms and rolled her over on her back, noticing her body was "ice cold and stiff," Fry said between sobs. "I gave her a breath — a CPR breath — but I knew she wasn't alive. I knew she was gone."

As authorities prepared to remove Camden's body, Timothy Fry helped his wife into her bedroom to say good-bye. Barely able to walk, he said, Kimberly "draped herself across Camden's body, sobbing and saying, 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Soon after, Tim Fry looked into his wife's eyes and noticed something was wrong. He went to the medicine cabinet, finding empty bottles of Vicodin, Clonazepam, Ambien and Cymbalta, lthen asked for an ambulance, which rushed her to South County Hospital.

No one in the family ever returned to live in the house at 73 Ricci Lane, Timothy Fry testified. His wife has been held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutes in Cranston since she was arrested, while he moved back to his birthplace in the northern part of the state. Fry said he has not seen his wife in the two years since the incident, and talked to her only once a few days after their daughter's death. Fry filed for divorce in April, having waited that long on his attorney's advice, he said.

http://eastgreenwich.patch.com/articles/father-describes-finding-daughters-body

UPDATE: Fry 'Incoherent, In Shock' When First Questioned
Sgt. John MacCoy testified Thursday that Kimberly Fry said she found her daughter conscious on the bathroom floor after falling in the shower, but pantomimed dragging the young girl to her room.
By Patrick Luce Email the author September 22, 2011

When police first interviewed Kimberly Fry about the events surrounding her daughter's death, she appeared to be in a state of shock and spoke in incoherent sentences, according to testimony Thursday afternoon in Fry's murder trial.

Sgt. John MacCoy, then a patrolman with the North Kingstown Police Department, was the first to arrive on the scene on Aug. 11, 2009 after receiving a call of an unresponsive child. He said on the stand Thursday morning that he found two "hysterical" parents kneeling over Camden Fry in her bedroom.

After escorting the parents from Camden's bedroom, MacCoy first interviewed the girl's father, Timothy Fry, before questioning Kimberly, who, he said, was sitting on the floor leaning against the couch. On cross examination Thursday afternoon, it was revealed that Kimberly Fry was holding her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth and speaking "in a very low tone," MacCoy said, responding to questions from defense attorney John Lavoy. "She had a very distant look in her eyes and appeared to be in a state of shock."

In grand jury testimony last year, Lavoy noted, MacCoy testified that Kimerly Fry was using "incoherent sentences" and seemed to be in shock.

MacCoy said he sat on the floor next to Kimberly Fry to ask about the night before. She first said that Camden had fallen on the bathroom floor, and "she motioned with both hands and her facial expression that she had to pull Camden back to her bedroom," MacCoy said.

Prosecutor Stephen Regine directed MacCoy to leave the stand Wednesday and demonstrate to the jury the pulling motion Kimberly Fry showed him. Sitting on the floor of the courtroom, with palms up, MacCoy made several pulling motions toward his body. He said Fry contorted her face into a grimace while she was demonstrating.

Immediately after, Fry broke down and became unresponsive, so he backed off to allow her to calm down, he said. When he returned, he asked her again what had happened. This time, MacCoy testified, Fry told him Camden had fallen in the shower at 8:10 p.m. the previous evening, and that she had found her daughter conscious on the bathroom floor. Fry told him the two watched shows on TV and read stories until about 9:10 p.m., when she put Camden to bed.

Kimberly Fry then broke down again and MacCoy ended his interview at that point, he said.

When police arrived at the Fry home on Ricci Lane in North Kingstown that morning, they found no signs of a struggle, and nothing to indicate why a healthy 8-year-old girl lay dead in her bed.

MacCoy said the girl's skin appeared to be a pale blue, and lividity had set in, making it clear the young girl had died. Her mother, Kimberly Fry, is charged with second-degree murder, accused of strangling her daughter the night before during a temper tantrum over not wanting to take a bath.

Sgt. Joel Mulligan, then a detective with the department, confirmed much of MacCoy's testimony, and began to describe his own observations of the scene when Judge William Carnes recessed for the day. Regine was about to show the video Mulligan made of Camden and her bedroom on the morning she was found. It is expected Mulligan's video will be shown when the trial resumes Friday morning.

During MacCoy's testimony, prosecutor Stephen Regine showed the court photographs of the young girl as officers found her — lying on her back in her bed, wearing pajamas, with her head tilted to the left. Timothy Fry testified earlier that he found his daughter lying on her side under the covers with her stuffed elephant tucked into her arm. He said he rolled his daughter onto her back to attempt CPR but already "knew she was gone."

While questioning the parents, MacCoy said Kimberly Fry was mostly responsive, if emotional. He said she was able to walk on her own and did not appear to need medical attention at the time. Timothy Fry has testified his wife was mostly unresponsive after he found Camden's body. He can be heard on the 911 call yelling for Kimberly to "wake up" several times.

Soon after MacCoy's questioning, Kimberly Fry was rushed to South County Hospital, after her husband and MacCoy noted her condition had deteriorated. Timothy Fry discovered several empty bottles of anti-anxiety medication, pain killers and sleeping pills. She had apparently taken the cocktail of drugs in a failed bid to kill herself, leaving a suicide note her husband found days later.

http://eastgreenwich.patch.com/articles/officer-fry-said-she-pulled-daughter-toward-bedroom

Cop: Kim directed an apology to Camden
Pediatrician says girl was being treated for ADHD

Updated: Friday, 23 Sep 2011, 5:38 AM EDT
Published : Thursday, 22 Sep 2011, 12:44 PM EDT

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - Testimony resumed Thursday in the murder trial of Kimberly Fry, the North Kingstown mother accused of strangling her 8-year-old-daughter.

Dr. Anne Noel testified late Thursday morning that Camden Fry, daughter of Kimberly and Timothy Fry, had been having difficulty in school and having trouble focusing.

The pediatrician said she had recommended that Camden be evaluated for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). After Camden was evaluated for the disorder, it was determined that she did in fact have ADHD.

Noel testified that at a later meeting with the family the 8-year-old was prescribed medication to treat the disorder.

According to Thursday's testimony by the doctor, after Camden had been on the medication, the child's condition improved.

Dr. Noel said the girl was not having trouble taking a bath and that her behavior did improve with the medication, saying she was "less defiant, and she had an improved appetite."

On Thursday, day five of the trial, the prosecutor then directly asked "Did this have a positive affect on her behavior?"

After a pause, Noel answered "yes."

The police officer who was first on scene at the Fry home gave his testimony Thursday afternoon.

Sgt. John K. MacCoy Jr., told the jury that when he arrived at the Fry's home, Kimberly and her husband Timothy were hysterical and crying uncontrollably. He went on to say that Timothy slowly calmed down, but his wife became even more distraught.

MacCoy also testified that as the couple leaned over Camden's body for the last time he heard Kimberly say, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He said it appeared as though she was directing her apology to Camden.

There are still several more witnesses left to take the stand during Fry's trial.

Timothy Fry, 41, took the stand Wednesday in Washington County Superior Court, where public defender Sarah Wright had her shot to ask the questions.

The questioning centered around Camden's behavior. He said that from an early age Camden began acting out physically and allegedly had a hard time transitioning from one activity to the next and would often throw tantrums as a result.

Related: Fry sobs in court during 911 audiotapes
Fry's wife, Kimberly, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges in connection with the death of their daughter, Camden. While the defense does not deny that Kimberly Fry killed her daughter, it maintains the outcome was not intentional.

According to Fry, his daughter's deadly encounter with her mother occurred when the little girl refused to take a bath.

Fry said his wife told him she sat on Camden and put her hand over her nose and mouth to make her stop screaming.

From The Providence Journal: Husband says wife’s comment recently recalled
He was also asked about his wife's condition. When asked if she was depressed, he replied that she appeared stressed during that period of time.

Fry intends to divorce his wife.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/childs-doctor-takes-stand-in-kimberly-fry-murder-trial

Fry: 'I don't know what came over me'
Told husband she 'couldn't take it anymore'

Updated: Friday, 23 Sep 2011, 6:26 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 23 Sep 2011, 2:30 PM EDT

Melissa Sardelli
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - "I don't know what came over me. I just couldn't take it anymore," Kimberly Fry wrote in what is being called a suicide note to her husband Timothy, after their daughter Camden's death.

North Kingstown Sgt. Joel Mulligan read the note word-for-word to jurors, testifying that the note was given to him by Timothy Fry.

Read Kimberly Fry's suicide note
Another letter entered as evidence was a letter Kimberly wrote to her husband from prison.

Read Kimberly's prison letter to her husband Timothy
Kimberly is accused of strangling their 8-year-old-daughter Camden back in 2009, after she refused to take a bath. Kimberly has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges in connection with the death.

While the defense does not deny that Kimberly killed her daughter, it maintains the outcome was not intentional.

On Thursday, Dr. Anne Noel, Camden's pediatrician testified that the 8-year-old had been having difficulty in school and having trouble focusing and said tests determined she suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). According to Noel's testimony, after Camden had been on medication, her condition improved.

Sgt. John K. MacCoy Jr., who was first on scene at the Fry home also took the stand Thursday.

Sgt. MacCoy told the jury that when he arrived at the residence - Kimberly and her husband Timothy were hysterical and crying uncontrollably. He went on to say that Timothy slowly calmed down, but his wife became even more distraught.

MacCoy also testified that as the couple leaned over Camden's body for the last time, he heard Kimberly say, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He said it appeared as though she was directing her apology to Camden.

Related: Fry sobs in court during 911 audiotapes
Fry said his wife told him she sat on Camden and put her hand over her nose and mouth to make her stop screaming.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/kimberly-fry-suicide-note-read-in-court-during-murder-trial

ME: Bruising on girl's chest and neck
Mom accused of strangling daughter, 8

Updated: Monday, 26 Sep 2011, 7:45 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 26 Sep 2011, 10:54 AM EDT

Shaun Towne
By Nancy Krause
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - Kimberly Fry, on trial for the murder of her 8-year-old daughter, looked away Monday morning as prosecutors showed images of Camden Fry's lifeless body.

Kerry Burke, an investigator for the state medical examiner's office, took the stand for the prosecution at Superior Court.

In-Depth: Kimberly Fry Murder Trial
Fry: I don't know what came over me
Burke testified that when called to the Fry's family North Kingstown home in Aug. 2009, she found Camden's body with abraisions around both nostrils, a small lump on the child's forehead and injuries around both ankles.

After removing Camden's pajamas, Burke said she found redness and bruising on the girl's chin, chest and neck area.

During testimony, images of the little girl's injuries were shown on a screen. However, Kimberly Fry looked away from the screen; at times shaking her head and rocking back and forth slowly.

Fry is accused of strangling Camden during a fight over bathtime. There was testimony Monday that Fry told police she dragged Camden to bed the night before the child's father found her dead in her bed.

On Friday, a forensic specialist told jurors that drops of blood were found on a bathmat, and are believed to belong to Camden. The specialist said there was no evidence that Camden scratched her mother prior to her death, as Fry had claimed.

Fry's husband, Tim, was the person who found Camden dead. He testified last week that the day before the incident, his wife told him she wished the girl "wasn't around."

A suicide note written by Fry was presented to the jury last week. In the note, Fry claimed that she didn't know what came over her, and that she "couldn't take it anymore."

Read Kimberly Fry's suicide note
A letter written by Fry to her husband from prison was also entered as evidence in the trial.

Read Kimberly Fry's letter to her husband
The defense admits that Fry did in fact kill her daughter, but maintains that her death was unintentional.

Timothy Fry testified that his wife told him that she sat on Camden and put her hand over her nose and mouth in an attempt to make her stop screaming.


http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/former-state-medical-examiner-doctor-elizabeth-laposata-to-testify-in-kimberly-fry-murder-trial

ME describes girl's injuries in court
Photos of child's lifeless body shown in courtroom

Updated: Tuesday, 27 Sep 2011, 7:06 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 27 Sep 2011, 11:47 AM EDT

Shaun Towne
Reporting by: Sean Daly
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Camden Fry, Dr. William Cox, took the stand in court on Tuesday.

Cox testified that Camden died sometime between 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. on August 10, 2009. He said the three injuries found on both of Camden's lower eyelids generally are caused by strangulation.

Cox also noted injuries to Camden's forehead, saying it was indicative of blunt force trauma - some type of impact to the forehead.

Kimberly Fry, 38, who is charged with second degree murder following the death of her 8-year-old daughter Camden looked away when images of the lifeless child were shown in the courtroom.

Officials say Camden was strangled to death in the family's North Kingstown home after she refused to take a bath. The defense admits that Kimberly killed her daughter, but maintains that the act was not intentional.

Kerry Burke, an investigator for the state medical examiner's office, took the stand Monday in Superior Court.

Burke testified that when she was called to the Fry home in August 2009, she found a small lump on Camden's forehead, as well as abrasions on both of Camden's nostrils and injuries around both ankles.

After removing the girl's pajamas, Burke said she found redness and bruising on the girl's chin, chest and neck area.

Fry's defense attorneys are expected to call former R.I. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Laposata as an expert witness.


http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/camden-photos-distress-mother-kimberly-fry-in-north-kingstown-murder-trial

Judge rejects request for Fry mistrial
Kimberly Fry on trial for murdering her daughter

Updated: Wednesday, 28 Sep 2011, 3:11 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 28 Sep 2011, 3:09 PM EDT

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP/WPRI) - The judge presiding over the murder trial of a North Kingstown mother accused of strangling her 8-year-old daughter denied defense motions Wednesday that sought to declare a mistrial and strike testimony given by the acting chief medical examiner.

Judge William E. Carnes Jr. rejected arguments from defense attorneys that Dr. William A. Cox violated a sequestration order for witnesses when he consulted with the prosecutor about his testimony during a break on Tuesday. Cox testified for the prosecution in the case of Kimberly Fry, 38, who is accused of strangling her daughter, Camden, in 2009 after the girl refused to take a bath. She has pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge.

Cox acknowledged on cross-examination that he spoke with Assistant Attorney General Stephen A. Regine about his testimony.
Carnes has advised witnesses against discussing their testimony with anyone. Cox said he thought he was authorized to speak with
Regine.

Public defender Sarah Wright had sought permission from the court to probe further into Cox's background during cross examination but was denied by Carnes. Cox acknowledged under questioning from Regine that he admitted to criminal ethics violations in 1996. He was accused of personally profiting from autopsies while he was Summit County coroner in Ohio and of hiding the income from authorities.

Cox pleaded guilty to nine misdemeanors, paid $138,000 in restitution, was put on probation, sentenced to 30 days at a halfway house and ordered to perform community service. His Ohio license has a permanent reprimand, Wright said. Regine said the allegations did not have to do with Cox's performance as a medical examiner.

Out of earshot of jurors, Wright also said Cox had been arrested in the early 2000s for failing to respond to subpoenas.

Cox testified Camden Fry died of cardio and respiratory failure as a result of asphyxia brought on by manual strangulation. Before dismissing Cox, Carnes directed him not to discuss the case with Regine or others without court permission.


Wright plans to call former R.I. chief medical examiner Dr. Elizabeth Laposata to testify for the defense. She is expected to testify Camden Fry died during a restraint attempt.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/judge-rejects-request-for-kimberly-fry-mistrial-